On February 23, 2012, Commerce Secretary John Bryson (remarks here) and Director of the White House National Economic Council Gene B.
Sperling (White House press release here) announced the release of Consumer Data Privacy in a Networked World: A Framework for Protecting
Privacy and Promoting Innovation in the Global Digital Economy. This comprehensive blueprint will guide
efforts to protect privacy and assure continued innovation in the Internet
economy by providing flexible implementation mechanisms to ensure privacy protections
keep up with rapidly-changing technologies.
In it, President Obama declares that privacy “has been at the heart of our democracy from its inception, and we need it now more than ever.”

The Administration advocates for legislation implementing broad
baseline privacy protections founded on the Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights set
forth in its paper. Even before
legislation is passed, however, the President calls on his Administration to
advance the Bill of Rights principles and the Department of Commerce to convene
multistakeholder efforts to produce codes of conduct that will protect
consumers immediately. The framework
laid out by the Administration will promote the growing digital economy by providing consumers and businesses a clear
set of rules of the road to build trust, and promoting international
interoperability of privacy regimes.

The Administration’s
paper is the culmination of over two years of work led by the Commerce
Department. On December 16, 2010, the
Department issued a report detailing initial policy recommendations
aimed at promoting consumer privacy online while ensuring the Internet remains
a platform that spurs innovation, job creation, and economy growth. Following the release of the report, the
Department received written comments and met with numerous stakeholders
to explore privacy issues. Under the
leadership of the National Science and Technology Council Subcommittee on
Privacy and Internet Policy co-chaired by General Counsel Cameron Kerry, the
Administration built on the Department of Commerce’s report to develop the Administration’s privacy
blueprint.